borbala fellegi european forum for victim-offender mediation and restorative justice
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Introduction of the AGIS Project on ‘Meeting the Challenges of Implementing Restorative Justice in Central and Eastern Europe’. Borbala Fellegi European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Introduction of the AGIS Project on ‘Meeting the Challenges of Implementing Restorative Justice in Central and Eastern Europe’
Borbala Fellegi
European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice
Presentation at the 5th Annual conference of the European Society of Criminology – 1 September
2005, Krakow
OVERVIEWOVERVIEW
Structure of the AGIS ProjectMain challenges ‘Hot Issues’Supportive factorsInternational cooperationSummary: Findings & Main
needs
STRUCTURE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE AGIS PROJECTAGIS PROJECT Justification
rapid and radical political, social and economic changes
compatibility of domestic law with international agreements
Objectives Studying the possibilities for implementing
restorative justice in CEE countries Stimulating the exchange and networking
between Eastern and Western Europe Recommendations for the EU concerning further
policy developments
Countries involved in the AGIS Countries involved in the AGIS projectproject Central and Eastern
Europe: •Albania•Bosnia and Herzegovina•Bulgaria•Croatia •Czech Republic•Estonia •Hungary•Moldova•Poland•Romania•Russia•Serbia and Montenegro•Slovenia•Ukraine Western Europe: •Austria•Belgium •Germany•Norway•United Kingdom
RU
BU
AUHU
POL
CZ
ES
RO
NO
BE
UK
BH
CRSL
GE
UKR
AL
M
SM
SOME FACTS & FIGURES SOME FACTS & FIGURES 2o months (May 2004 – December 2005)
4 meetings 1. June 2004: Vienna, Austria 3. March 2005: Chisinau, Moldova
2. Oct 2005: Budapest, Hungary 4. Sept 2005: Sofia, Bulgaria
4 reports
19 directly involved countries
67 directly involved experts
16 Best Practices
15 National Action Plans
Planning of new projects & cooperation
Final Publication (November 2005)
MAIN CHALLENGESMAIN CHALLENGES
1. Changes in crime and in criminal policies
crime wave, punitive attitudes, the hegemony of the state in the criminal justice system
2. Sociological - cultural factors lack of community, shared values
3. Institutional factors lack of resources
MAIN CHALLENGESMAIN CHALLENGES1. Changes in crime and in criminal policies
The crime wave Punitive attitudes – ‘Gulag mentality’
→ e.g. Prison population per 100 000 of nat. pop. (Walmsley, 2003): USA: 701, Russia: 606, Ukraine: 415, Poland: 218, E&W: 141, Norway: 59
The hegemony of the state in the criminal justice system
MAIN CHALLENGESMAIN CHALLENGES
2. Sociological - cultural factors ‘sense of community’
status of a subordinate rather than a citizen lack of tradition of multi-agency,
interdisciplinary cooperation
anomalies of social standards no social discussion about the principles
underlying the rules
MAIN CHALLENGESMAIN CHALLENGES
3. Institutional factors Legal reform does not automatically yield
to the establishment of the required institutions & services
Lack of information, translated materials, experts,
training, experiments, personal experiences multidisciplinary exchange credibility of NGOs evaluation, monitoring
‘‘HOT ISSUES’HOT ISSUES’15 participants
↓45 problems
↓4 issues:
1. Legislation
2. Fundraising
3. Awareness of professionals and the general public
4. Training & Practical issues
HOT ISSUESHOT ISSUES1. Legislation - ‘Formality of Informality’
Necessity: legality principle, application, legitimacy
Legislation vs. Implementation: the role of principles
Two milestones: pilot project + legislation
Multi-agency consultation, public debate
HOT ISSUESHOT ISSUES2. Fundraising
Exchange among the fragmented projects
Link to the broader issues currently being on the political agenda
Strategic planning → systemic reform
Donors’ education
The role of the fundraiser
‘‘HOT HOT IISSUESSSUES’’
3. Raising awareness of governments, practitioners of the criminal justice system as well as of the general public Changing punitive attitudes
Only ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ paradigms in sentencing
‘Competing’ with the post-war issues (Croatia, Serbia, BiH)
Providing information, training, education
Cooperation with the media
‘HOT ISSUES’4. Training & Practical Issues
quality, standards, guidelines, supervision, accreditation, selection criteria
awareness of underlying principles, equal attention to victims and offenders
cooperation between agencies, educating the actors of the justice system
need for capacity, external support
‘hybrid’ scheme
SUPPORTIVE FACTORS
Challenges → → Supportive factors
Changes of attitudes towards the criminal justice system
Changes in the underlying principles of the sentencing system
Changes in the role of communities
SUPPORTIVE FACTORS
Present: Best practices
Future: National Action Plans
Bridge from current support to further needs: International cooperation
REQUESTED SUPPORTTYPE OF SUPPORT
Nationally Political pressure
e.g. criminal justice system, academia
Financial resources
e.g. government, foundations
Know-how
e.g. practitioners of different sectors (victim support, probation, etc.)
Internationally
Political pressure
e.g. EU, CoE, UN
Financial resources
e.g. EU, internationalfoundations, embassies
Know-how
e.g. foreign experts, researchers
FINDINGS & MAIN NEEDS
legislationinstitutional
building
pilot projects
exchangenetworking
financial & informational resourcesstandards & guidelines
training
research
promotion
Implementation and development of RJ↑
1. Differences in the ‘level’but NOT in the‘content’
•2. Parallel needs
•3. Areas:• Lobby•Resources•Know-how
•4. Exchange ↓broader framework
MORE INFORMATION:
Final Publication of the AGIS project on
‘Meeting the Challenges of Implementing Restorative Justice
in Central and Eastern Europe’.
Published by the European Forum for Victim – Offender Mediation and
Restorative Justice, December 2005.
